


Family Ties

by hxchick



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst and Humor, Family Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-06
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 16:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/505305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hxchick/pseuds/hxchick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years ago, Dave and Erin had an affair that resulted in a child. What does Erin want from her and will it destroy everything Dave has worked so hard to build?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As David Rossi walked from his office to the break room, there was a spring in his step and he whistled a happy tune. His thirteen year old daughter was returning from two months in Italy that evening and he couldn't wait to see her. He couldn't believe how fast the time had gone; it seemed like he had just put her on the plane yesterday and now suddenly she was returning from her summer trip.

He felt bad about sending her away for so long but his dad, who had recently moved back to Italy, had been clamoring for them to come for a visit since the day his feet had hit Italian soil. Dave finally relented and made arrangements for his daughter to spend most of the summer in the countryside of Italy, all the while planning on coming out for her birthday in mid-July. Unfortunately, because of the never ending cases, he hadn't made it to Europe and he had missed yet another one of his daughter's birthdays, in this case a milestone birthday as it had marked her official transition from tween to teenager.

As he thought about what her age meant, Dave gave a sigh; the tween years hadn't been too bad, at least Janet had been alive to help him with most of those pitfalls, but the teen years…God, from all of the books he'd read and the stories he'd heard, well, he wasn't exactly looking forward to them but he knew he would get through them…somehow.

"Today's the day, isn't it?" His boss and best friend asked as he entered the break area. "She gets home this afternoon, right?"

Dave smiled, "Her plane is due to arrive at National in about two hours."

Hotch smiled as he heard the excitement in his friend's voice, "So I'm guessing you'll be leaving early?"

Dave nodded, "All of my case files are completed and my conference call with Denver PD was cancelled, apparently they caught their serial rapist this morning." He paused and took a swig of his coffee. "I gotta say, I missed her more than I thought I would. When she first left, I thought I would love having a clean and quiet house and I do, but I also miss having her around and if the messes and the music come with that, then I'll take them."

Even though work had kept him away for many of the milestones in her life, Dave was close with his daughter Katie and he had missed her presence much more than he thought he would. Ever since his wife Janet had died, almost two years ago, it had been just the two of them and they had grown close, both sharing in the grief that came from losing a loved one. Katie had lost her mother and Dave had lost his soul mate and it had taken them awhile to get through their mourning, but they had done it together and it had created a much stronger father-daughter bond.

"Who would've thought that the Great David Rossi could be brought to his knees by a twelve…no, now thirteen year-old girl?" Hotch asked, still smiling.

"Oooh, are you talking about Katie Rossi, the mystery girl?" Garcia asked as she and JJ entered the break room. "Are we ever going to meet this daughter of yours?"

Dave shook his head, "Let it go, Garcia, it's not going to happen."

Most of the team had been clamoring to meet his daughter since he'd rejoined the team after his first retirement, but Dave wouldn't let it happen; he did NOT want her to be tainted by what he did. Sure, she knew he worked grisly cases but she never knew much about them and he wanted to keep it that way and if he had to keep her away from the BAU altogether to do so, then that's what he would do. More importantly, Dave also needed one thing in his life that he didn't associate with work and he was afraid if Katie met the team and got chummy with them, then he would think of her whenever he saw them. He knew Hotch and JJ kept their kids away from the BAU for the very same reason.

The only reason Hotch knew Katie was because they had been friends for so long and it would have been weird for him not to know her. Besides, after Janet died, Hailey had offered to watch Katie while he was out in the field and the two had grown close. Hailey had been a Godsend; she was able to navigate all of the 'girl stuff' that he would have been horrible at. Janet died when Katie was eleven, so she'd had all of the basic talks with their daughter, but Hailey had delivered the more in-depth 'my changing body' speech to Katie and for that, Dave was eternally grateful. It's not that he wouldn't have done it; it's just that it saved both him and his daughter from a life-scarring discussion.

"Come on, Agent Rossi! How can you deny me my BAU niece? It's cruel and unusual punishment," Garcia said with a pout.

Dave just shook his head and left the break room, carrying his precious, caffeinated brew. By all rights, the team should have met Katie when Janet died, but his wife had been specific about not wanting a big funeral, so in the end he and Katie, along with Janet's brother, had gone to her favorite spot in the woods and they had scattered her ashes there. As a result, Katie was still a mystery to the majority of the team.

As he entered his office, he tried to shift his train of thought back to the never-ending pile paperwork that was on his desk and he sat down with the intention of completing it. His plans changed as he looked to the rear of his office and saw his section chief sitting on the sofa.

"Jesus Christ, Erin, you scared the hell out of me!" He snapped; the absolute last thing he needed was to go twelve rounds with her before picking his daughter up from the airport.

"We need to talk, David."

"About what?" He asked. "Like I told Aaron, my consultations are finished, I'm almost done with my paperwork and the conference call with Denver was cancelled."

"This isn't about work," she told him.

"Then what is it about?" He asked with barley veiled contempt in his voice. "What exactly do we need to discuss?"

"Our daughter," she responded.


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't you mean MY daughter, Erin?" Dave asked stiffly. "I seem to recall that she ceased being your daughter less than an hour after she was born. Isn't that how long it took you to sign your rights away?"

"David-" Strauss tried to interrupt, but Dave wouldn't let her.

"But since you never wanted her in the first place, since you nearly had her removed from your body when you were less than six weeks pregnant with her, since I had to beg you not to KILL her, I guess I should be grateful you even let her come into existence!"

"You're right David, okay? I shouldn't have called her that, she's clearly YOUR daughter!" Strauss said loudly, trying to calm the irate profiler.

"Alright then, why do we need to talk about my daughter?" He asked trying to ignore the sense of foreboding in his gut; he knew nothing good was going to come from this conversation.

"What is her blood type?" Erin asked and Dave was surprised enough that he answered without comment.

"A negative, why?"

"Thank God," Erin muttered in relief and then looked up at Dave. "My middle child, Clara, has aplastic anemia."

"Jesus Erin, I had no idea," Dave said in a softer voice.

Strauss nodded, "Up until now, blood transfusions and medications have worked to keep her somewhat healthy, but her disease is progressing and the doctor told me she needs a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. In order to lessen the chances of rejection, her best bet would be to receive marrow from a blood relative, but, unfortunately, my other daughters and I are not a match for Clara."

"And?" Dave prodded, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

"And, since your daughter is at least a half-blood relative and she's the same blood type as Clara, she may be a potential bone marrow match."

"Are you telling me," Dave began slowly, trying to keep his anger under control, "that you want me to risk my daughter's life in order to save your daughter's life? Are you seriously asking me to permit my daughter to undergo an invasive medical procedure as a favor to you?"

"First of all, the procedure would be low-risk to Katie. All told, she would probably spend one night in the hospital and then another 2-3 days recuperating and, yes, the procedure involves some pain, but-"

"No! No buts!" Dave yelled. "You have some nerve even asking me to consider this!"

"I know you hate me David and, believe me, the feeling is very much mutual, but do you really want to punish my nine year old daughter for our past mistakes?"

"Did you just refer to my daughter as a mistake?" He asked in a lethal voice.

"No, no, of course not," Erin backtracked, knowing that any hope of saving her daughter's life rested in her former lover's hands. "What I meant was-"

"She doesn't know about you, Erin," Dave said in a calmer voice, but inside he was panicking. No, he didn't want Erin's nine year old to die from her disease, but he also didn't want to turn his thirteen year old daughter's life upside down. "Janet and I agreed she was better off not knowing about you and the circumstances that led to her conception and birth and, if I remember correctly, you were in firm agreement with that."

"I was, but things have changed David, my daughter is sick and your daughter may be the only person who can help her! I know these aren't the best of circumstances, and I know she will be upset when you tell her-" Once again, Dave interrupted his section chief.

"Upset? She's going to be way beyond upset, Erin! She's coming into her teen years and I need her to be able to talk to me, to confide in me, to TRUST me and this is going to blow all of that out of the water!" Dave couldn't believe this was happening now, of all times! Sure, he knew he would have to eventually tell Katie about her biological mother, she would need that for a complete health history, but he'd hoped it would be far in the future, preferably when he was on his deathbed.

"I'm truly sorry David, but my daughter needs help now," Strauss said firmly. "So are you going to have her tested, or are you going to force me to get a court order to have her tested?"

Dave, who had begun to feel a trace amount of sympathy for his section chief, felt the sympathy turn to fury. "Are you threatening me, Erin? We both know I don't do well with ultimatums."

Erin, who was also starting to get pissed off at that point, said, "It's not a threat, it's a promise. There is NOTHING I won't do for my daughter!"

"Well it's good to hear you can love at least one of them," he spat. The two of them just glared at each other for a moment before Dave finally relented; he knew he couldn't punish an innocent child for her mother's mistakes. "Fine, I'll talk to Katie, but I need some time."

"My daughter doesn't have the luxury of time, David."

"And my daughter is just returning from two months away from me, Erin and I need a little time to reconnect with her before I shatter her world. I'm only asking for ten days."

"Fine," Strauss agreed begrudgingly, "But if I don't hear from you, on day eleven I'll file for a court order, so she'll learn about things one way or another."

"I get it, Erin," Dave said through clenched teeth, remembering the rule his father taught him about never hitting a woman.

Strauss stood up, "As long as we understand each other then," she said before she left his office.

Once she was gone, Dave let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. God how he loathed that woman! She was the one thing that made him second-guess his decision about coming out of retirement.

Of course, he knew the situation wasn't entirely her fault. He could have, no he should have had this talk with Katie much sooner…hell, he shouldn't have hidden it from her at all, but he'd never wanted her to know that her biological mother hadn't wanted her, that she had planned to abort her. It was only because of his begging that Erin hadn't gone through with her plans to rid herself of their child and he never wanted Katie to feel unwanted.

As he sat with his head in his hands, Dave realized that it was almost time to pick his daughter up from the airport. He quickly packed his briefcase and stepped out of his office, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, what did Strauss want?" Hotch inquired, stepping out of his own office.

"Nothing good," Dave said with a sigh as he shook his head.

"Should I be worried?" His boss asked, wondering if the she-demon was once again trying to break up the team.

"No, it's not about work, it was personal. Look Aaron, I've got to go get Katie from the airport, can we talk about this later?"

"Sure," Hotch replied, "How about over dinner? Hailey tried calling you, but you were in with Strauss and you didn't answer. She wants you and Katie to come for supper tonight and, since it's my night with Jack and Jack also wants to see Katie, I'm invited as well."

Dave smiled at that; for awhile he wondered if his unit chief and ex-wife would ever be able to be in the same room together, but after their divorce they'd slowly repaired their relationship and had become friends again. While Dave knew that nothing romantic would ever happen between the two, it was nice to see them acting amicably towards each other.

"Tell Hailey we'll be there; I'm sure Katie is dying to see you guys too," Dave said. "And I'll fill you in on the situation with Strauss. In fact, I may need your legal advice about it."

"Can't wait," Hotch said dryly, wondering what kind of jam his friend had gotten into.

Dave just smiled and made his way through the bullpen and to the elevators; his little girl was finally coming home and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.


	3. Chapter 3

Dave tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the never-ending stream of passengers exit the jet way; he knew he was seconds away from having his daughter home and he couldn't wait to see her. Since she was thirteen she was an 'unaccompanied minor' and she had to wait to leave the plane with one of the flight attendants. Because of that, she was one of the last people to leave the airplane. Finally, he saw her step into the gate area; she was chatting with a flight attendant and she looked tired.

"Katie Belle!" He called out. Ever since she was a small child and had seen the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, Belle had been her favorite princess and, as a result, Dave's nickname for her was Katie Belle, or sometimes just Belle.

"Dad!" She yelled as she ran into his outstretched arms.

As he hugged her, Dave felt himself breathe easy for the first time in two months. She was finally home where she belonged. "I missed you so much," he said as he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"I missed you too," she said into his chest. Was it possible she had grown since he'd last seen her? He finally released her and took a good look at her.

"Italy sure agreed with you," he said as he observed her tanned skin, her sun-lightened hair and lean figure.

"It was great! Grandpa and I spent most of the days outside in his small vineyard," she told him as the flight attendant joined them.

"I assume you're Kate's father?" She asked.

"I am," he assured her, pulling out his FBI credentials so she could verify his identity. The attendant made sure everything was in order and then left Katie with Dave.

"Let's go hit baggage claim," he suggested as he picked up her carry-on bag and swung it over his shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulder and walked with her to get her luggage.

xxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, after many stories about the Italian countryside, Dave pulled his SUV into the garage of their Alexandria townhome. Katie gave a big yawn as she got out and she went to get her luggage from the back of the truck, but her dad beat her to it.

"I know someone, other than me, who missed you while you were gone," he said as he unlocked the door that led into the house.

Katie grinned as she heard an excited 'woof' from behind the door. As her dad opened it, a furry, four legged bundle of energy ran out to greet her.

"Mudgie!" She exclaimed as she knelt on the ground to hug the large dog. The chocolate lab greeted his young companion with slobbery kisses and exuberant barking. Finally, with the help of her dad, Katie was able to stand up and walk into the house. "There's no place like home," she said, "especially after a twelve hour plane ride."

"At least you were in first class. That should have been somewhat comfortable, right?" He asked as he poured her a large glass of water. Being a frequent traveler, Dave knew how easy it was to become dehydrated from the dry air in the airplanes.

Katie nodded as she drank. "It was comfortable, but I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."

"We're going to Hailey's for dinner tonight, so don't get too comfortable," he told her. "I barely have any food in the house."

"So I noticed," his daughter observed as she scrounged through the empty cabinets for a snack. "Did you forage in the woods for your meals while I was gone?"

Dave snorted, "No, I was really busy and there wasn't enough time to cook decent meals between cases. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry I missed your birthday, honey."

"That's okay dad, I'm used to it," she said nonchalantly as she took a bite of a somewhat stale cookie. Although she hadn't said it maliciously, her word cut through Dave's heart; she was used to him missing her birthdays…hell, he'd only been there for five or six of them, the rest of the time he had either been busy with cases or out on book tours.

"It's not okay, I should've been there," he told her.

"But it was fun anyway," she said. "Grandpa and I met up with Uncle Eddie in Rome and we ate a really fancy meal and Uncle Eddie let me have a glass of wine!"

Dave made a mental note to have a chat about appropriate dinner beverages for his daughter the next time he talked to his brother. As he listened to her talk about her birthday in Rome, Dave glanced at the clock and noticed how late it was. "Come on," he said, we'd better get going, we don't want to miss one of Hailey's fabulous dinners."

Katie yawned and followed her dad back out to the car. As grateful as she was to be getting a home cooked meal that night, she would much rather be sleeping off her jet-lag.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next two hours went by quickly for Dave and Katie. After the happy reunion between Hotchners and Katie, the five of them sat down to a nice meal. Hailey had everything prepared and ready to go when they got there because she knew the teen would be exhausted after her trip and she didn't want her to have to wait around for the meal to cook.

After dinner, Katie offered to help with the cleanup, but Jack dragged her into the living room to watch one of the Toy Story movies with him and being as tired as she was, Katie didn't protest. Once the kids were out of the room, the adults began the clean up process.

"Do you want to tell me what Strauss was doing in your office today?" Hotch asked as he unloaded the dishwasher. He may not have lived there anymore, but he still knew where all of the dishes went.

"Not really, but I'm going to have to," Dave said with a sigh. "Hailey, you'll probably want to join in on this conversation."

Hailey looked surprised as she took a seat next to Dave at the breakfast bar; normally when the guys talked shop, she left the room as she didn't want to hear about office politics, national security or any of the cases they worked.

"Did you know one of Strauss's daughters is ill?" Dave asked Hotch.

"I heard something through the grapevine. She has some kind of anemia, right?"

Dave nodded, "Yeah and the kid needs a bone marrow transplant or else she'll die."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with you?" Hotch asked, somewhat confused.

Dave checked to make sure that neither Katie nor Jack was anywhere near the kitchen before he said, "The best candidate for the bone marrow donor is someone who is related by blood. Katie matches that description."

"What?" Hailey asked, shaking her head. "How is that possible?"

"Janet wasn't Katie's biological mother; Strauss is."

"Holy shit!" Hotch exclaimed.

"How is that even possible?" Hailey asked again.

"Let me start at the beginning," Dave said. "During my first stint at the BAU, almost fourteen years ago, Erin and I had an affair. It was right after Patty and I got divorced and I was looking for comfort anywhere I could find it. Erin was still married to Timothy at the time, but they were going through a rough patch and had separated. Erin assured me they were on the path to divorce, so we had a secret tryst. Needless to say, our relationship didn't last very long and we broke up about a month after everything started." He paused to both take a drink of wine and gauge his friend's responses to his story. When he saw they had no questions, he continued.

"About a month after we broke up, Erin came to me and told me she was pregnant. By this time, she and Tim had reconciled and she knew that carrying another man's baby would've wrecked all of that, so she planned on aborting the baby we had created; she was just letting me know in case word ever got out about it."

"Jesus," Hailey breathed. "How could she be so callous?"

"I don't know, but I begged and pleaded with her not to get rid of the baby. I promised that after it was born, I would take care of it; she could sign her parental rights away and never have to worry about the baby again. I also promised to help her financially while she was pregnant. While I wasn't as well off back then as I am now, my first book had just been published and it brought in a fair chunk of money. Erin finally agreed to have the baby. Since she had her husband and a daughter at home, she told them she was going deeply under cover for a year and wouldn't be able to see them and they believed her."

"I know Timothy Strauss and I can't believe he fell for that," Hotch commented.

"What can I say, Aaron? Love makes us do crazy things. Anyway, as soon as Katie was born, Strauss signed her rights away and never looked back at her. By that time, Janet and I had met and had fallen in love. Since she couldn't have children, it made sense for Janet to slide into the mother position for Katie and she did it quite easily. Hell, Janet was with me when I brought Katie home from the hospital. Soon after, she and I were married and she officially adopted Katie and the rest is history."

"Why didn't you ever tell Katie the truth?" Hailey asked. "Why didn't you tell her she was adopted by Janet?"

"I never wanted Katie to know that her own mother didn't want her. I knew I would have to tell her eventually, but I never wanted it to influence her sense of self-worth. I know it was wrong to keep it from her for all of these years, but I honestly thought Strauss was out of her life for good; she's never shown any interest in Katie since I returned to the BAU...she's never once asked about her. Who could've envisioned something like this happening?"

"Are you going to get her tested? Are you going to tell her the truth about her mother?" Hailey asked.

"I don't think I have much of a choice," Dave responded. "I can't let a little girl die because of my history with her mother. Besides, Erin threatened to get a court order to get Katie tested. Do you think she would have much of a case?" He directed this last question at Hotch.

Hotch thought for a minute, "Normally I would say no, a non-parent would have a hard time forcing a painful medical test on a minor, but honestly? I've seen Clara Strauss and she is a cute little girl and if Strauss paraded her around the right judge, she may very well be able to get a court order."

"Damn," Dave sighed. "I guess I'll have to tell her."

"It'll be okay, Dave," Hailey assured him. "Katie loves you so much and, yeah, it will be a shock for her and there will be feelings of anger, distrust and loss, but she'll eventually get over it."

"Thanks Hailey," Dave said gratefully and then he turned to his boss. "I'm going to need the next week off and by off, I mean totally off. No phone calls, no consultations, nothing. I want to reconnect with my daughter before I shatter her world."

"When are you going to tell her?" Hailey asked. "I want to know so I can be ready for a phone call from her."

"I'm going to take her to the cabin for the next five days, so I'll tell her when we get home on Thursday," he decided.

"Good luck with that," Hotch said sincerely. "And Dave? Don't worry about work, I'll have everything covered, you just focus on Katie."

"Thanks. Speaking of Katie, we should probably head home; she's pretty jet-lagged and I want her to get a good night's sleep before we head to the cabin tomorrow."

The adults made their way into the living room and found Katie dead asleep on the sofa.

"She fell asleep right after I pushed play, daddy," Jack said from his position on the floor. "She must be really tired."

"She is, buddy," Hotch said as he picked him up and swung him into his arms. "It's bedtime for Katie and it's bedtime for Jack."

"Okay daddy," Jack said, excited that his father would be tucking him in that night. After Hotch and Jack left the room, Dave and Hailey stared at Katie's sleeping form for a minute.

"How can I destroy her world?" He asked softly.

"You're not going to destroy anything," Hailey told him, "You're just going to…dent it."

Dave nodded sadly as he picked his teenage daughter up from the couch and started for the front door.

"I can walk," a groggy Katie mumbled into his chest.

"Go back to sleep, Belle," he said as he stepped through the front door. "I've got you."

"'Kay," she said and then fell back asleep. Dave laid her down across the back seat, buckled her in and then started for home. He knew the next week would change their lives forever.


	4. Chapter 4

The next five days passed in a blur for Dave and Katie. They went to the cabin as planned and they filled the days with hiking, swimming, biking and playing fetch with Mudgie. The nights were filled with watching movies and playing board games. Since Katie had been gone for most of the summer, it had been nice for her and Dave to connect again and she was amazed that her dad had taken an entire week off just to spend with her.

Dave, who treasured their time together, went through the days with a sense of foreboding in the back of his mind; he was going to have to tell his daughter the truth about her mother soon and he knew it had the potential to ruin their relationship and he dreaded the very thought of that happening. He knew his daughter was a forgiving person, but he didn't know if she would be able to get past the deception that had been going on since the day she was born and, as a result, he kept putting off the inevitable.

Thursday finally dawned and Dave knew he had to tell Katie the truth that day. First of all, his deadline with Strauss was looming ahead and he did not want Katie to find out the truth from her. Second, he was due back at work on Monday and he didn't want to drop the bomb on her and then run off to work, he wanted to be there for her so she could yell and scream at him and he wanted to be able to answer any questions she had and he wanted to give her ample time to process everything.

"Hey dad, ready to go?" His daughter's voice pulled him from his reverie and he looked up to find her leaning against his bedroom doorway holding a packed duffel bag.

He nodded as he zipped his own bag, "Yup," he said. "Ready to go."

"What are we going to do with Mudgie while we go shopping?" Katie asked as they walked down the stairs to the first floor of the cabin. "It's too hot for him to wait in the car."

"I thought we'd drop him, and our duffel bags, off at home and then hit the shops." Dave was taking her back to school shopping that day. It was a little early to be doing it, since school didn't start for another three weeks, but he since he was free and pretty much guaranteed not to be called out on a case, he thought they should get it done early. Besides, who knew if she would even be talking to him by the time school started?

"Okay," she agreed as they left the cabin and made their way to the SUV. Soon they were on the road heading back to Alexandria.

xxxxxxxxxx

Four hours later, they were standing in the middle of the shopping district in Alexandria and Dave was checking various items off of his list. "Okay, we got your casual clothes, dressy clothes and school uniforms, right?" Katie checked the bags and nodded as her dad continued, "You have new shoes a new watch and…um, Hailey will take you out next week to get underwear and stuff, okay?" He asked, turning slightly red.

Katie, who turned the same shade as her dad, nodded. No matter how close she was to him, he was still her dad and there was no way she was going to go shopping with him to get new bras and panties.

Dave cleared his throat and continued down his list, "You have pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, markers, highlighters, glue, and folders. Did we miss anything?"

"Yeah, a computer for my room?" She asked hopefully.

"Nice try," Dave said. "The computer in the living room is fine for you." There was no WAY she was getting a computer for her bedroom, not when there were so many pedophiles that used the internet to troll for victims.

"Then I think we're good," she said.

"Okay, let's head home."

The drive to the townhouse was short and Dave felt his apprehension build with each mile travelled. Finally they pulled into the garage and got out; Dave carried all of the bags while Katie carried the pizza they'd picked up. Once inside they sat down at the table and wolfed down their meal as they discussed their day.

Once the pizza was pretty much gone, Katie stood up to take her bags up to her room but Dave stopped her. "Hey, can you sit back down? I need to talk to you."

The teen plopped back down in her seat. "What's up?" She asked, wondering if he was finally going to tell her why he decided to take some time off.

"We need to talk about our family," he said as he took a deep breath.

"Okay…" she responded, not sure of where the conversation was going to go.

"You know I love you right?"

"I know," Katie said, still confused and a little apprehensive.

"And you know your mom loved you with all of her heart," Dave said, wondering how he should tell her.

"Of course."

"Well Katie Belle, the thing is…well, your mom wasn't the woman who gave birth to you." He watched a look of confusion come over her face.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Your mom wasn't your biological mother, she adopted you soon after you were born," he said and he watched the look of confusion change to one of dawning.

"What?" She whispered after a minute, "I'm adopted?"

Dave shook his head, "Only by your mom; I'm your biological father."

There was silence for another few minutes while Katie processed the news and in those few minutes, Dave watched a range of emotions dance across her face.

"What...but…but if mom wasn't my real mom, then who is?" She asked and Dave could hear that she was near tears.

"First of all, your mom was your real mom; she might not have given birth to you but she couldn't have loved you more if you had grown inside of her," he told her but that seemed to frustrate her.

"You know what I mean! Who is my biological mother?" She asked, a bit louder this time.

"That's where it gets tricky," he said. "You know how I was married before I married your mom? Well, in between my last marriage and your mom, I met a woman and we had an…intense physical relationship and she ended up getting pregnant with you." He paused to make sure she understood the circumstances. "Honey, that woman is my boss."

Katie, who had been looking down at her lap, snapped her head up. "Your boss?" She repeated. "You mean the one you're always complaining about? The one whom you've called 'pure evil' on many occasions? The one you've wanted to strangle ever since you went back to work? You mean to tell me that bitch is my MOTHER?" Her voice had gotten louder with each word and by the time she got to the word 'mother,' Dave was sure the windows were rattling from her volume.

"First of all, watch your language, you know I hate it when you swear-" He started, but that made her angrier.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? After all you've told me, you're worried about my SWEARING? You destroyed my world yet God forbid I use the word 'bitch'!"

"Honey, I didn't destroy anything; this news doesn't change how much I love you or how much your mother loved you!"

"This news doesn't change anything? THIS NEWS CHANGES EVERYTHING! Don't you get it? SHE WASN'T MY MOTHER! Janet Rossi, the woman who taught me everything I know about being a good person is not my mother!" Dave could hear quite a bit of hysteria in her voice but it was to be expected.

"Janet Rossi WAS your mother! She was your mother legally and in every other way that counted. SHE was the one who taught you right from wrong, SHE was the one who taught you how to care about things and SHE loved you more than life itself!" He said loudly, hoping to penetrate the teen's brain.

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe a word you say, right? You know, since you've been LYING TO ME FOR THIRTEEN YEARS!"

"Honey, I wasn't lying to hurt you, I was lying to protect you-"

"To PROTECT ME? How is hiding the truth from me protecting me?" Katie yelled.

"I don't know, but I only had your best interests at heart," he said.

The room went silent for a few minutes as Katie tried to process everything she learned. Her face was red with anger and it was streaked with tears, her eyes looked like they were about to shoot fire and her body was stiff. As he watched her silently wipe her tears and shake her head in disbelief, he knew he had to say something to her.

"Honey-" he began, but Katie wouldn't let him speak.

"No…NO! YOU never get to talk to me AGAIN! You LIED to me! Ever since I was a little girl, I always thought you were straight with me, but it turns out I was dead wrong! I can never believe ANYTHING that comes out of your mouth again!" She shrieked.

"Katie, I-" This time he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone and he could tell by the ringtone that it was someone from the BAU. "Honey, I have to take this call, okay?" She didn't even look at him as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"This had better be important, JJ," he snarled. "I specifically told Hotch I didn't want to be interrupted this week."

"I know, but Hotch told me to call you,' she said. "One of your cases is going to trial on Monday and he wants me to clarify a few of your notes in the file. Apparently it could make or break the case."

"Fine, but make it quick," he ordered hoping that with him out of the room, Katie would be able to process things a little faster.

As she heard her dad talk on the phone, Katie sat at the table in a daze, trying to recover from everything he had told her. As she sat there, she knew she couldn't recover…she couldn't stay in the house for another minute; there was somewhere she needed to go.

Without consciously thinking about it, she got up from the table, grabbed her small purse from among the many shopping bags and, without a word to her father, walked out the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

From the moment she left the townhouse, Katie knew where she wanted to go; to her mother's house, her biological mother's house. She wanted to find her and ask her why she wasn't good enough for her, why she didn't care enough about her to keep her and why she and her father had kept everything a secret from her. She got exactly ten steps down the sidewalk before she realized she had no idea where the woman lived and she didn't know how to go about finding that information. Even if she had her cell phone with her, which she didn't, it wasn't a smart phone, so she couldn't look it up online. And it's not like she could call Hailey or Aaron; they would set her dad on her trail so fast it would make her head spin. Calling her dad's co-workers was out too because what was she supposed to say? "Hi, you don't know me, but can I have the home address of your boss? I have a few things I need to talk to her about." Yeah, right!

But what was she going to do? She couldn't go back to her house…she just couldn't spend any more time around her dad. She needed time to process things and if he was around, he would continue to try and justify his actions and she knew if he did that, she would eventually explode. As she continued walking, Katie finally figured out where she was going to go…it was the one place she could vent and not worry about getting into trouble for it. She checked her purse to make sure she had her Metro card in it and, to her relief, she did, so made her way down to the subway platform and onto the next train.

Back at the townhouse, Dave finally hung up with JJ after a twenty minute conversation about his case notes. Taking a deep breath, he went back into the kitchen for round two with Katie but, to his surprise, he found the room empty. He frowned as he made his way up the stairs; he didn't hear any noise coming from her bedroom and when he opened the door he saw that it was also empty. He felt panic grip his heart as he checked all of the other rooms in the house, along with their small back yard, and saw that they were all deserted.

He rushed back into the kitchen, picked up the phone, called her cell and then nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it ring on the counter next to him. He slammed the phone down in frustration and then picked it up again and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" He heard a masculine voice say.

"Steve, it's Dave, is Katie over there?" Steve Smith was the father of Kayla Smith, who was Kate's best friend. The girl and her father lived down the street from them, in another block of townhouses, and it was the closest place Dave could think of.

"No, she's not here; Kayla's at camp until the end of next week," Steve told him.

"Damn," Dave said as more worry became evident in his voice. "We had a…fight and she ran off while I was on the phone."

"Do you want me to have some of the guys look for her?" Steve was a detective with Metro PD and because of that, and because their daughters were such good friends, Dave and Steve had become friends as well.

"That would great," Dave told him and then gave him a description of the clothes she was wearing when she left. Soon after, they hung up and Dave once again wracked his brain for places she could have gone to. Another flash of hope hit his chest as he dialed the next number.

"Hello?" This time feminine voice answered.

"Hailey, is Katie with you?" Dave asked, praying that she was. Unfortunately, his prayers were not answered.

"No, I haven't seen her since dinner last week. Why, is she missing?"

Dave nodded, forgetting she couldn't see him, "The big reveal didn't go so well, she was really upset."

"Damn," Hailey said softly. "You let her run away from you?"

"No, I stepped in to the other room to take a call and when I came back, she was gone," he explained.

"Does she have her Metro pass?"

Dave glanced to where her purse had hung and groaned, "Yup, she has it."

"Okay, let's think about where she might go," Hailey said and for the next few minutes they brainstormed ideas but discarded them because they were either too far or not on a Metro line. Finally, after a few moments of silence, Hailey asked, "What about Janet's grave?"

While Dave and Katie had scattered some of Janet Rossi's ashes in the woods, Dave had had the rest buried at a nearby cemetery so she would have a final resting place. "I hadn't thought of that," he said.

"It makes sense; she's angry, confused and probably wants to be close to her mother right now," she told him.

"Will the cemetery even be open?" Dave asked.

"It's only seven and most cemeteries don't close until dark. It's worth a try," Hailey said as she grabbed her car keys, "I'll meet you there." She didn't have to worry about Jack since he was with his dad for the night.

"Sounds good," he said as he reached for his own keys.

"And Dave? If you get there before I do, please don't kill her. I know your first instinct will be to pummel her, but I'm sure she didn't do this to get back at you. I'm guessing she wasn't, and still isn't, thinking straight and she probably just needed to get away from you for a little while."

"I hear you…I'll try to keep my temper in check," Dave promised as he headed out the door.

xxxxxxxxxx

Fifteen minutes later, Hailey pulled into the cemetery and saw a small, lone figure sitting on the ground next to a grave stone. As she got out of the car, she saw Katie was sobbing hard enough that her entire body was shaking. She quietly knelt down next to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder.

Katie hadn't heard her approach and when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she gasped and jumped nearly a mile. "Hailey!" She said, surprised that it wasn't her father.

"Hey Katie, I hear you've had a rough night," she said sympathetically

The teen nodded as tears continued to pour down her face, "Did you know? Please tell me you didn't know!" She begged, not able to stand the idea of any other adults lying to her.

Hailey shook her head, "Your dad told Aaron and I about it the other night, but I didn't tell you because I knew he was going to. If he hadn't told you by Saturday, then I would have."

Katie nodded and continued to wipe away her tears. Hailey watched her for a second and then held out her arms and Katie fell into them. "She wasn't my real mom, Hailey. They lied to me! They lied to me my entire life! Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, honey, but it's complicated. Once you're feeling better, once you've processed all of this, you need to talk to your dad so he can explain everything."

"I don't think I'll ever talk to him again!" She said forcefully. "He LIED! He changed EVERYTHING in a heartbeat…I don't even know who I am anymore! I don't know who I should be!"

"You should be you," Hailey told her. "Nothing your father told you tonight changes who you are. You are still Janet Rossi's daughter, whether she carried you in her stomach or not and nothing should ever change your memories of her."

Katie just nodded and continued to cry. After a few minutes, Hailey heard the sobs begin to taper off and eventually she pulled back from her. "Doing better?" She asked.

"A little," she sniffed. "I think I ran out of tears."

"Ready to head home?" Hailey asked, seeing Dave standing about ten paces behind them.

"I suppose I have to," she said.

"You do," Hailey said firmly. "And Katie? I understand you were upset, but you can't do that again; you can't just run off like that, someone needs to know where you are. Okay?"

Katie nodded as she wiped her face with her hands, "I didn't do it on purpose, I swear…I just needed to get out of there, I needed to get away from my dad. If I had stayed, I would've said a lot worse than 'bitch' to him."

Nodding as if she understood that last part, Hailey said, "You know you can call me whenever you need to, right? I'm always here for you."

Katie nodded as they stood up, "Thanks," she said as they hugged again. Once their embrace ended, they turned and walked to the cars. As soon as Katie saw her dad, she felt the anger come rushing back to her.

Dave saw the anger return to her face and said nothing. Instead he walked with the women to the cars. While Dave thanked Hailey for her help, Katie got into the front passenger seat of the SUV and slammed the door. Dave winced when he heard the loud noise and then he took a deep breath and got into the driver's seat.

The ride home was largely silent, but as they approached their neighborhood, Dave finally spoke up. "This can't happen again, Katie," he said. "I don't have many rules for you, but I need to know where you are and if I'm not around, then another trusted adult needs to know. Do you understand?"

Katie, who had rolled her eyes at the 'I don't have many rules' line, stayed silent.

"Kate Lynn Rossi, I need an answer. Do you understand?" Dave asked again, much more firmly this time.

"I understand," she said through clenched teeth.

"Good," he replied as they pulled into the garage.

After being greeted by an exuberant Mudgie, Katie made her way through the kitchen and towards the stairs before her father stopped her. "I think we should talk some more," he said.

Katie, whose anger had been building throughout the entire car ride home, finally exploded. "I NEVER want to talk to you AGAIN!" She shouted as she ran up the stairs. "I HATE you!" She screamed right before she slammed her bedroom door.

Dave sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs, "That went well," he sighed as he absently pet Mudgie's head.


	6. Chapter 6

The next two days were tense ones in the Rossi household. While he wanted to talk to his daughter about Strauss and her daughter's medical condition, Katie wasn't exactly in the mood to hear anything he had to say, so he decided not to push it with her. He knew she needed a few days to think about things and he decided to give her those days before he rocked her world again.

The few times they actually saw each other was at mealtimes. No matter how pissed off or confused his daughter was, Dave insisted they eat their meals together, if only so he could see that she was physically okay. To say their meals were tense would be an understatement. Usually their meals together were filled with conversation and laughter, but now they both just sat at the table and ate silently…well, Dave ate while Katie just pushed the food around on her plate and ate enough so he wouldn't hassle her. All in all, mealtimes had become fairly unpleasant, which is why Dave was ecstatic when Hailey called him and invited them both over to her place for Sunday night dinner. Since it was the weekend, Hotch and Jack would be there as well and could act as a tension diffuser. When Hailey heard that Katie and Dave hadn't talked in days, she agreed that she and Aaron would help him discuss Strauss and the medical issues with Katie.

It was around four o'clock on Sunday afternoon before Dave finally got the courage to knock on his daughter's door and, when he did, he received no answer. Knocking again, he called out, "Katie, are you in there?"

"Yes," she replied frostily.

"Can I come in?"

Dave heard an angry sigh and then, "I suppose."

He opened the door and stuck his head in, "Hailey invited us over for dinner tonight, so be ready to go by quarter to six, okay?"

"Fine," she said.

Thankfully she followed his directive and met him at the car at five forty-five on the dot. They both got into the car and started a silent journey to Hailey's house. After five minutes of the heavy silence, Dave finally broke it.

"So why did you try making a withdrawal from your savings account yesterday?" He asked even though he was already fairly sure of the answer.

"What?" Katie asked, surprised by his question; how in the hell did he know about that? Especially since they wouldn't let her take the money because she didn't have his signature on the withdrawal slip. "How do you know about that?"

"I'm automatically alerted whenever someone tries to take money from your account, since my name is on it too," he told her. "So why did you try taking some of it out?"

"No reason," she said as she stared out the side window.

"No reason, huh? You tried taking eighteen hundred dollars out of your account; I would say there has to be a huge reason for that." It wasn't as though Katie had vast wealth sitting in the bank, but she got an allowance of eight dollars a week, soon to be ten now that she was a full-fledged teenager, and since he bought most of her stuff, the money in her account added up.

"Fine," she said tightly, "If you must know, I was going to by an airline ticket to Italy…I want to live with Grandpa."

"That is not going to happen, Katie," he said firmly as he tried to keep his own anger out of his voice. "You are staying here with me."

"But-" she tried to argue, but he talked over her.

"And I can't believe you were going to run away again, especially after our discussion on the way home from the cemetery. What part of 'I need to know where you are at all times' don't you understand?"

"God dad, it's not like I got the money, so can't you just let it go?" Why did he have to make such a big deal over everything?

"Fine, but if you try running away again, the only trip you'll take will be over my knee," he told her and got a fierce glare in return.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dinner that night was less stressful for both Dave and Katie because there were other people for them to talk to. Jack picked up on the tension between the two and asked Hotch if they were mad at each other. Hotch explained they were but they would get over it. Katie just rolled her eyes when she heard his explanation.

After dinner, she went into the kitchen with Hailey so she could talk to her, while the three men watched the end of a baseball game. After the game, Hotch put Jack to bed while Hailey and Katie fixed dessert. Once the dessert was almost finished, Katie excused herself so she could use the bathroom and that's when Hailey lit into Dave.

"Are you an idiot?" She asked him, once his daughter was out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" Dave asked, wondering what he'd done now.

Hailey shook her head, "You don't threaten to put a thirteen year-old over your knee, especially one that's rightfully angry with you. She's not seven years old anymore, Dave!"

"She tried taking money out of her bank account so she could run away, Hailey. What in the hell was I supposed to do?"

"First, she wasn't going to run away, she was going to tell you first," Hailey said, "And second, you need to give her some more time! Yeah, I know things have been bad between the two of you and they'll probably get worse before they get better, but you can't expect her to get over everything this quickly! You've had thirteen years to think about this, but she's only had three days; she needs more time."

"You're right," he admitted, "I just hate the way things are right now; she screamed at me that she hated me."

The woman snorted, "God, I can't count on both hands the number of times I told my parents I hated them when I was her age. She's a teen, Dave and angst is all a part of that. Don't take it personally."

"I'm trying not to, but it's hard."

"I know, but things will eventually get better," Hailey assured him.

"What will get better?" Hotch asked, joining them.

"Hailey is trying to reassure me that my daughter doesn't actually hate me," Dave said.

At that moment, Katie re-joined the adults at the table and ate her dessert with them. It was quiet for a moment before Dave took a chance and spoke to her.

"Sweetie, I know you're mad and don't want to talk to me, but we need to discuss what I told you," he said.

"What is there to discuss?" She asked tonelessly. "My mom isn't my mom and you lied to me about it for my entire life. Did I leave anything out?"

"You did, actually. There's a reason I told you about all of this now instead of when you're older, but we can't talk about it if you're too mad at me to listen, this is too important, so can you please put your anger aside for the next thirty minutes?" He asked as he felt his patience with her slip a little.

She was quiet for a moment while she processed what he had said. "Fine," she responded and made a conscious effort to forget her anger for a little while, but that effort was for naught when she heard the next words come out of his mouth.

"You have a sister, three of them actually, but the middle one, Clara is nine years old-"

"I have sisters?" She asked in shock, as he nodded. "I have sisters and YOU NEVER TOLD ME?"

"Keep your voice down, Jack is asleep," Dave ordered her as she looked at him in furious disbelief.

"So not only is my mother alive, I also have sisters!" She hissed. "Is there anything else you haven't told me about my family? Am I secretly half alien?"

The adults in the room knew she was pissed, so they all bit back the smiles that threatened their faces with her last question. "Anyway," Dave continued, "Clara is nine years old and has a disease called aplastic anemia and it's affecting her bone marrow. Up until this point, they've been to help her with medicine, but now she needs a bone marrow transplant, or she'll die."

"God," Katie said after a moment, "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"

"They aren't great circumstances, that's for sure," Hailey agreed as she patted the teen's hand reassuringly.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed her anger down and asked, in an almost normal tone, "So what does this have to do with me?"

Dave, who was surprised that she sounded almost like her old self, responded, "The best match for her would be a blood relative, but your biological mother and your other two sisters are not a match for her…they're all hoping that you will get tested."

There was silence as Katie absorbed what her dad had just told her. "So…they want my bone marrow? Do they even want to meet me, or do they just want my parts?"

"Honestly Katie Belle, Erin and I never got that far in our discussion, so I'm not sure."

"How…how would they test me?" She asked, still somewhat in shock and no one could really blame her for that; heck, three days ago she had been an only child whose mother was dead and she had been living with her single father. Now she had to adjust to not only having a living biological mother, but three sisters as well and one of them was sick. It was a lot to take in.

Dave gave her a blank look; with all that had happened over the past three days, he hadn't researched the procedures much. Thankfully Hotch spoke up. "The first part is a blood test and then, if you're deemed a match, the next step is a bone marrow aspiration."

"What's that?" Katie asked, thinking the name of the test itself sounded nasty, so she knew it wouldn't be good, and she was right.

"Your doctor would insert a needle into your hip and extract a sample of bone marrow so they could study it further to ensure you would be a good match for Clara…and before you ask, yes, it would probably hurt, but they would numb your skin so you wouldn't feel the needle going in." While Katie digested that piece of news, the two adults looked at Hotch in astonishment.

"How in the hell did you know all of that?" Dave asked, amazed at his friends knowledge.

"Reid," was his reply.

"How big is the needle?" Katie asked, her fear of all things medical gripping her heart.

"I don't know," Hotch answered honestly.

"Yeah, but if they're going to jab it into a bone and suck my stuff out, it's gotta be pretty freaking big, right?"

"Probably," Hotch admitted.

"And she'll die if I don't do this?" Katie asked.

"No, at that point she would be added to the donor waiting list and hopefully a stranger would be matched to her, but the odds for her survival are much better if the marrow comes from a blood relative," Dave said, unsure if he wanted her to go through with it, now that he knew what the testing entailed. If the testing was that bad, what was the actual donation procedure like? He made a mental note to have Garcia research it for him as soon as he got to the office the next day.

There was another long stretch of silence while Katie weighed the pros and cons in her mind. Finally, she nodded her head and said, "Okay, I'll do it, I'll get tested." She knew that, no matter how pissed she was about everything, she couldn't just not help her sister.

"Are you sure about this, honey?" Dave asked and Katie nodded firmly.

"I am, but if I turn out to be a match, I'm going to want to talk to the doctor and ask some questions before I agree to donate, okay?"

Dave nodded his head, "Definitely, I have some questions about the procedure as well."

The three of them sat there for another minute before Katie finally asked, "So is that it?"

"That's it," Dave told her.

"So I can go back to being mad at you now?"

Dave sighed, he'd hoped that once she'd started talking to him again, she would forget about all of the anger she had towards him. He should've known better, after all she was the product of two of the most stubborn people on the planet. "You can," he said tiredly.

"Good," Katie said as she crossed her arms over her chest and shot a glare at him.


End file.
